Nail-extractor.



PATENTED SEPT. 4, 1906.

J. A. HOULIHAN.

NAIL BXTRAGTOR.

APPLIOATION FILED OOT.16,1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

NAIL-EXTRACTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 4, 1906.

Application filed October 16, 1905. Serial No. 282,879.

To all whom, it may concern.-

, Be it known that I, JOHN A. HOULIHAN, of Rochester, in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in N ail-Extractors and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference beinghad to the drawings forming a part of this specification and to thenumerals marked thereon.

My present invention relates to improvements in devices for extractingnails, staples, &c., from wood or other substances into which they havebeen driven; and the purpose of the invention is to provide an improvedextractor which is driven into cooperative relation with the nail-headby a force applied transversely of the nail and which when operated willstart the nail with long leverage and will draw the nail in asubstantially straight line.

To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvementsin the construction and arrangements of parts, all as will behereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed outparticularly in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of an extractorconstructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevationof the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are bottom and top plan views,respectively,-of the extractor. Fig. 5 represents a section through theextractor and a claw-hammer, showing the manner of using the device toextract nails; and Fig. 6 represents a section on the line 6 6 of Fig.5.

The same reference-numerals designate similar parts in the severalviews.

Although the device may be equally adapted to extracting staples andother special or peculiarly-formed fastening devices, the presentembodiment of the invention is particuiarly adapted to extracting nailsof various forms, and it comprises generally a body portion 1, havingits upper surface curved to form a seat or rest for the claws of anordinary clawhammer, such as shown at 2 in Fig. 5, and at one end of thedevice and projecting above the surface of the seat 2 is a lug 3 ofsuitable form to engage between the claws of a claw-hammer or to providea firm grip for any other suitable instrument, a dovetail or expandedform, such as shown,

being generally preferable, while the opposite end of the device isprovided with an anvil 4 to receive blows from a hammer.

On the under side of the body portion are provided a pair of jaws 5,which extend from the body in a direction forwardly and downwardly andterminating in the points 6, the proximate walls of the jaws convergingto form the beveled nail-engaging surfaces 7, while the lower edges 8 ofthe jaws are formed on a curve to bear on the wood or other substanceadjacent to the nail to be extracted and serve as a fulcrum about whichthe body portion rocks in extracting the nail.

An extractor of the kind described is engaged with the nail to beextracted by placing the sharp points 6 at the forward ends of the jawsslightly in the rear and at either side of the naiLhead, and by strikingthe anvil 4 one or more blows with a hammer while the body portion ofthe device rests in an inclined position, such as shown in Fig. 5, thesharp points 6 will be driven through the wood or other substance ateither side of the nail-head, causing the latter to be firmly wedged 011the beveled walls 7 of the convergent jaws. By applying a claw-hammer tothe device so that its claws engage the lug 3 while the body of thehammer rests in the seat 2 of the device and then making a tiltingeffort on the hammer-handle the extractor will rock on the lower surfaceS of the jaws as a fulcrum, the latter bearing on the wood or othersubstance close by the nail-head to produce a long leverage for startingthe nail and rolling back toward the anvil 4 as the nail is extracted.This causes the greatest force to be applied to the nail while it isfully embedded and sometimes rusted in place, while as the length of thenail remaining in the substance gradually decreases as the extractingoperation progresses by the changing fulcrum the leverage will beproportionately shortened, causing that portion of the jaws inengagement with the nail-head to move about a longer radius toaccelerate the speed with which the nail is drawn and also largelypreventing its bending or binding against the sides of the nail-hole. Inextracting very large nails or nails that have rusted in place thehammer may be depressed so that it disengages from the seat 2 on thedevice, while the claws remain in engagement with the lug 3, and bygiving the hammerhandle a sharp jerk to bring the head into en gagementwith the seat 2 with a hammerblow considerableiforce will be brought tobear in a straight line in starting the nail.

By providing the beveled surfaces 7 on the proximate faces of thejawsnot only will nails having heads of different sizes be accommodated, but these surfaces will engage the head at differentpositions relatively to the surface of the wood, and by providing theforward ends of the jaws with the sharp points the jaws readily enterthe wood and engage on either side of the'nail-head, even whenthe-latter are punched or countersunk belowthe surface of the wood.

An extractor embodying my invention is so small and convenient to handlethat it may be carried in the pocket, while in use it is capable ofreaching and firmly engaging vthe heads of nails that are deeply sunkbeneath the surface of the wood and extracting them without disfiguringor marring the surface, and, moreover, as the device is engaged with thenail by a force applied in a direction transversely thereto, andconsequently parallel to the surface of the wood, nails driven throughthe thickness of boards that are springy and have no firm backing orsupport may e easily extracted, whereas the operation would be eitherdifi icult or impossible were the hammer-strokes delivered in adirection transversely of the board.

I claim as my invention 1. A nail-extractor comprising a body portionhaving relatively fixed convergent jaws, an anvil arranged toward thenarrow ends of the jaws, and an operating projection adapted tocooperate with a suitable tool located at the widened ends of the jaws.

2. Anailextractor, embodying a body portion having relatively fixedconvergent jaws thereon adapted to cooperate with a nailhead, an anvilat one end ofthe device and in .rear of the jaws, and an operatingprojection adjacent to the jaws for the application of an.operatingtool. v

3. A nail-extractor embodying a body portion having relatively fixednail-engaging portions formed with convergent Walls to cooperate with anail-head, an operating pro jection adjacent to the nail-engagingportions adapted to cooperate with the claws of a claw-hammer, and aseat adjacent to the pro= jection to receive a portion of the hammerwhile the latter is in engagement with the projection.

4. A nail-extractor comprising a body por tion having nail-engagingportions thereon provided with oppositely-beveled surfacesto cooperatewith a nail-head, said portions being curved and adapted to bear on thesubstance surrounding the nail as a fulcrum, and an operating projectionadjacent to the forward ends of the nail-engaging surfaces for the,application of a suitable tool for rocking the device on its fulcrum. l

5. A nail-extractor composed of a single piece of material having a pairof jaws convergent in the direction of their length, an anvil formedtoward the convergent end of the jaws, and a portion connecting thewidened portions of the jaws and having a projection thereon for theapplication of a suitable tool.

6. A nail-extractor composed of a single piece of material provided witha pair of jaws convergent in the direction of their length and havingtheir inner walls inclined in a direction transversely of their lengthand adapted to grip a nail-head between them, an anvil arranged in linewith the jaws, and an en larged projection immediately adjacent to thejaws to receive a suitable operating-tool,

JOHN A. HOULIHAN.

Witnesses;

CLARENCE A, BATEMAN, WALTER B, PAYNE.

